This seems to be a running theme in your comments about vaccine hesitation.
I don’t think that’s been the case at all, unless that’s what you are looking for. I think that the information we have received has been very patiently explained over and over again.
At what point do you find frustration with saying the exact same thing over and over again? If a physician on TV seemed frustrated, maybe it’s because they and 100’s of other experts have been trying to explain this since literally December.
I don’t find that the information that the Covid vaccine works and that the vast majority of people can take it to be inconsistent at all. But if you are looking for inconsistencies, you can find them in anything you look for.
We’re in a pandemic and emergency. Extraordinary measures have to be taken to deal with extraordinary circumstances. No vaccine has ever been more broadly validated in the real world. No amount of testing on any vaccine can guarantee zero side effect longer term. It’s always about properly weighing the benefits against the risks.
You’ll be surprised by the percentage of senators and congressmen/women who were vaccinated without any mandate, even though some of them don’t want to admit they were for political reasons.
I appreciate that most in congress have probably been vaccinated… but “don’t want to admit for political reasons.” Therein lies the problem; everything on both sides is so political that people are having a hard time deciphering truth from spin.
I am not anti-vaccine. However, I do understand why there is hesitancy for some.
On this point–it’s only political from one side. Democrats are perfectly happy to acknowledge they are vaccinated. To get vaccinated and not acknowledge it so as not to inflame your base is inherently political, but to affirm you have done the thing you have done is not–it’s consistent and coincides with their overall stance, plus being good science.
The two users above are welcome to continue the discussion via PM if the desire, but the political debate is OT on the thread, and violates ToS. Move the conversation forward please.
Verified previous infection should probably count as roughly equivalent to vaccination in terms of lowering the risk of future infection. However, many “had COVID-19” beliefs are unverified, or later found to have no antibody indication of previous infection (other sicknesses like flu can have COVID-19-like symptoms).
Also, those with previous infection (like those who get vaccinated) can still get breakthrough infections. But those with previous infection who then get vaccinated have been found to get very strong immune response, better than either previous infection or vaccination alone. Shouldn’t that by itself be plenty of incentive to get vaccinated? Also, vaccination may cost less than antibody testing if one believes that they had an unverified previous infection.
Can you link to the NIH study about the vaccine and fertility? I saw the one about getting vaccinated during pregnancy (about the immune response for pregnant and postpartum women and whether immunity is passed to infants), but nothing on fertility. A link would be appreciated.
It’s very difficult to have a response to people who are anti-vaxx or vaccine reluctant. If you accurately minimize their concerns, you are being insensitive or ridiculing them. If you tell them about the dangers of not getting vaccinated, you are using scare tactics. If you correct their misinformation, you are being elitist or you’re told they “did their own research.”
Millions and millions of vaccine doses have been given at this point. What will it take for these reluctant people?
Covid hasn’t been around long enough to state that anyone has achieved “long-term immunity.” We know that most people who have had Covid have some degree of immunity, but we currently have no idea how long it will last or what percentage of past Covid patients will enjoy this immunity. We know that some people have been re-infected with Covid. Those people are certainly not the beneficiaries of “long term immunity.”
What we do know is that people who have been infected in the past with Covid and who do get vaccinated later show a high antibody level. What that means in terms of long term immunity remains to be seen.
“You could say the same thing about vaccinated folks.”
One certainly could, which is why you won’t read any post by me referring to “long term immunity” conferred by vaccines. Not the case with the post to which I was responding.
There is a study being conducted by the NIH on covid vaccination and impacts on fertility. There are some real concerns about this issue. Blockquote
The study you linked is not a study to discover the impacts of Covid vaccination on fertility. It is to study impacts on menstruation.
While changes in menstruation could theoretically impact fertility, that’s not what this study is examining.
“Researchers will assess the prevalence and severity of post-vaccination changes to menstrual characteristics including flow, cycle length, pain and other symptoms. These analyses will account for other factors that can affect menstruation—such as stress, medications and exercise—to determine whether the changes are attributable to vaccination. Several projects also seek to unravel the mechanisms underlying the potential effects of COVID-19 vaccines on the menstrual cycle by examining immune and hormonal characteristics in blood, tissue and saliva samples taken before and after COVID-19 vaccination.”
Natural immunity can be highly protective. The problem is that the response is random: Some people have protection for a long time, some people have protection for a short time, and some people don’t even get protection. We have no way to predict who will land in each category yet (Harvard is working on it). The risk of reinfection after natural infection is 2 times higher with Delta than with vaccines. Vaccines induce a pretty uniform and clean response (unless you’re immunocompromised). And if you’ve recovered from COVID and then get the vaccine, you’re in the best group. There’s no downside to getting the vaccine.
Additionally, how do we know that someone had the infection previously? They would have to get tested for an antibody response to the nuclear protein to be sure. So many people think they had COVID because they had a cough. Heck, I have relatives who swear they had it in 2019, before we ever had documented cases in the US.
Either way, we have 60-65% of the population with immunity from natural infection and/or immunity from vaccination. That’s not good enough. Especially with winter coming.
The fertility thing is probably something born from a misinformation campaign earlier this year. There was a study suggesting that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein mimics the protein on the surface of placental cells (syncytin-1) and that when you were given the vaccine, your body would make antibodies to the spike protein and therefore also to syncytin-1. Fact is, the proteins are not similar. It’s like saying you and I are related because we’re wearing the same color pants today. Secondly, if you look at the vaccine trials, there were 3 dozen pregnancies included. If it was true that the vaccine altered fertility, there would have been less pregnancies in the vaccinated group than the placebo group.
If that had turned out to be the case, then women who had actual Covid infection would also need to be worried about the same affects on their fertility because they would also have antibodies vs. the spike protein-and therefore also syncytin-1.
While changes in menstruation could theoretically impact fertility, that’s not what this study is examining.
Not to be contrary but the female cycle does not happen in a vacuum. There are many hormones/biological processes that must be synced. Hopefully, with the number of institutions involved in this NIH study some good data will come out and help people with their decision making.
The other info from John’s Hopkins is interesting but some of it boilerplate.
At the end of the article it talks about people with severe allergies… needing an epipen. And suggests they get input from their doctor before getting vaccinated.
So if someones doctor suggests not getting vaccinated because of a severe allergy how does that work? There really are not many options for people that have a condition that might keep them from getting vaccinated.
I just think there are a lot of reasons why people are hesitant and just because they are hesitant does not mean they are unreasoned or that their desire is to create issues for the rest of the population.